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Obama formally ends combat in Iraq

A war that may yet go down in history as America’s single greatest foreign policy blunder reached a milestone Tuesday night with five decisive words from President Barack Obama: “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over.”

U.S. President Barack Obama reads his speech to photographers after delivering an address to the nation on the end of combat operations in Iraq from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Aug. 31, 2010. (NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP)

WASHINGTON – A war that may yet go down in history as America’s single greatest foreign policy blunder reached a milestone Tuesday night with five decisive words from President Barack Obama: “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over.”

The declaration, spoken without fanfare in a live address from the Oval Office and broadcast live on five networks, marked the end of American combat operations after more than seven years of bruising military efforts.

Obama heaped praise upon U.S. soldiers as “the steel in our ship of state,” saying, “We have met our responsibilities. Now, it is time to turn the page.”

The shift away from combat leaves some 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, down from a high of more than 150,000. The remaining soldiers are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011.

It also leaves the fragile new Iraq hanging in the balance, with the war’s final chapter – political reconciliation between feuding Sunni and Shiite Muslim and Kurdish factions or a return to sectarian violence – not yet written.

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Obama acknowledged the unfinished business, calling on Iraqi leaders to “move forward with a sense of urgency to form an inclusive government.” He said that while the combat mission is ending, “our commitment to Iraq’s future is not.

“Iraqis are a proud people. … They understand that only Iraqis can resolve their differences and police their streets. Only Iraqis can build a democracy within their borders.”

Obama’s announcement came in stark contrast to the triumphal declaration of his predecessor, George W. Bush, who famously called an end to major combat operations in 2003 with a “Mission Accomplished” banner strung up behind him.

Bush’s premature declaration came during the brief period of calm that followed the toppling of former dictator Saddam Hussein. But Iraq went on to endure a withering insurgency at times verging on civil war. The toll to date: 4,400 U.S. soldiers killed, 31,911 others wounded and more than 106,000 documented Iraqi deaths, according to the Iraqbodycount.com.

Obama avoided assigning blame for the war’s ups and downs, saying he spoke Tuesday with Bush to put their differences behind them.

“It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for the troops or his love of country or his commitment to our security,” said Obama.

The President touched briefly on Afghanistan, acknowledging “those who are understandably asking tough questions about our mission there.” He offered no policy changes, but renewed his pledge to begin a U.S. military drawdown in August, 2011, saying the surge now underway is to create space for Afghans to “secure their own future.

“As was the case in Iraq, we cannot do for Afghans what they must ultimately do for themselves,” he said.

“The pace of our troop reductions will be determined by conditions on the ground and our support for Afghanistan will endure. But make no mistake – this transition will begin – because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people’s.

With Iraq’s political fate at an impasse more than six months after March elections, many U.S. analysts on Tuesday measured the winding down of the war in humbling terms, citing the colossal $800 billion price tag and the subsequent rise of neighbouring Iran, which today wields far more geopolitical clout than it did during the Saddam era.

“A war that was intended to reshape the power dynamic in the Middle East to America’s advantage actually has done the opposite,” said Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow at the Washington-based Centre for American Progress.

Together with the cost and strain on the American military, “We are still at a negative” in Iraq, Katulis said. “We are still trying to take a sad song and make it better.”

More than once during his 19-minute address, Obama made clear that the redeployment and drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan will unfold as his administration focuses on the singular task of healing the battered U.S. economy.

“We must tackle those challenges at home with as much energy, and grit, and sense of common purpose as our men and women in uniform who have served abroad. They have met every test they faced. Now it is our turn.”

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